£100 million in loan facilities in a record-breaking month

June has been a record-breaking month for Maslow Capital; completing £100 million of new facilities across four deals. The transactions will see the delivery of 1,100 new residential and student accommodation units in Manchester and Glasgow.

In total, these developments will deliver in excess of 847,000 sq. ft. of new residential and student accommodation. Three of the deals, totalling over 736,000 sq. ft. are located in Manchester, with the remaining deal providing 111,000 sq. ft. of purpose-built student accommodation in Glasgow.

Maslow’s record month follows more than £200 million of new development loans so far in 2018; a 20% increase compared with the same period last year. The addition of these four deals takes the total to over £300 million for the six-month period ended June 2018.

These recent closings highlight the strong demand for alternative sources of finance from UK developers. It also reinforces Maslow’s view that there is a broadening appetite for specialist lending.

Sky Mapson, Lead PBSA and Residential Originator at Maslow Capital, who is responsible for the four deals, said:

“The closing of these deals is further proof that not only is the demand out there for specialist funding but that developers are connecting in a big way with providers who combine a flexible approach with real expertise. That we can close £100m in facilities in just one month is a testament to the confidence that we and our clients have in certain parts of the UK and the chronic need for new housing in these cities. These deals demonstrate that we have a strong appetite to support regional developments across the country, providing loan facilities with an average size of £25m to experienced sponsors.”

June has been a tremendous month for Maslow following a strong start to 2018. Maslow Capital is delighted to meet the growing demand for alternative financing from developers throughout the country. In particular, continuing to see more and more opportunities across cities in the north and in Scotland – with Manchester and Glasgow two prime examples. Maslow expects this trend to continue throughout the year, as well as the broader trend of demand from clients for the unique combination of specialist knowledge, balance sheet strength, and structured credit facilities.

An exclusive feature was showcased by Real Estate Capital, read more here.

Will they, won’t they? What to expect (or not) in the Autumn Budget

The Autumn Budget is almost upon us and, we have been mulling over what important changes we expect the Chancellor to make.

We anticipate that there will be a change to the way Stamp Duty is structured: the publication of Theresa May’s White Paper earlier in the year identified a broken housing market, and coupled with this and the slowdown nationally in transaction volumes off the back of political and economic uncertainty, change to stamp duty would be a logical next step to fix this.

What we think is unlikely, but not off the table completely, is that there will be any big adjustment at the top end of the market, in the +£1 million category. A small reduction in the charges at the prime end could have a big impact on liquidity, however this is probably not where the Chancellor will be focussed.

A more plausible scenario is another stamp duty holiday for first time buyers, similar to that between 2010 and 2012, when properties below £250,000 were exempt from stamp duty. A move like this is unlikely to have much impact in London where average property prices are £483,568, according to HM Land Registry, but could help improve liquidity in the rest of the UK.  A stamp duty holiday together with the continuation of Help to Buy, will benefit this important part of the housing sector.

There have also been calls for the Government to remove stamp duty entirely for older homeowners, to encourage people to downsize. It’s hard to see how this could be implemented but supporters say this would help increase the supply of family sized homes. A guise of this in conjunction with further stimulus for increasing housing supply, rather than just supporting demand, may be at the forefront of the Budget. For example, the government could give corporate tax reductions to encourage developers to deliver new housing in certain areas where there is a particular supply and demand imbalance.

Lastly, in a bid to win back some popularity amongst the younger generations, we anticipate a probable shake-up of student loans, something that would help support the student sector.

Watch this space…

Maslow Capital’s Lending Portfolio Update

Maslow Capital

NEWS: Maslow Capital strengthens team with seven new appointments

Maslow expands its team to support current and future growth

The new hires add depth across origination, risk, marketing and operations, providing the necessary resources to grow the business whilst delivering exceptional service standards to developers.

Kevin Manners

Has been appointed as Finance Director and will take responsibility for operations, cash flow management and servicing.  After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2008, Kevin moved into the civil engineering sector joining a private equity-backed construction firm. He then joined McLaren Automotive as it embarked on its journey from start up to becoming an established manufacturer of sports and super cars.  He held a number of positions in the UK banking sector prior to joining Maslow.

Andrew Pinfield

Joins Maslow as Head of Risk to add further strength to the company’s underwriting and portfolio management capabilities.  He brings to Maslow more than 25 years of banking experience, following successful tenures in property finance, risk, analytics and portfolio management, holding senior positions at RBS, Citi, HSBC and NatWest.

Michael Kearney

Forms part of Maslow’s origination team after more than a decade as an analyst and a portfolio manager with ANZ Banking Group in Australia, where he oversaw the growth of a A$1.4 billion national loan portfolio of real estate investments and development facilities.

Thomas Ahearne

Joins Maslow as a Deal Analyst from United Trust Bank, where he specialised in property development, before broadening his experience as an analyst within the structured finance group.  Tom successfully contributed to the rapid growth of the structured finance desk, with a portfolio now valued in excess of £100 million.

Wojciech Chrobak

Joins Maslow as a Finance Analyst from State Street Bank, where he was a manager in the performance and analytics team. Previous to that, Wojciech spent four years at Lionsgate Asset Management – a fund of hedge funds – where he worked on a number of projects in finance, client reporting and due diligence before moving to the research team.

Karen Brown

Joins Maslow as a consultant having previously worked at the London Stock Exchange Group. Karen brings more than a decade’s experience in developing and implementing a broad range of specialist systems for the financial services sector.  Karen was responsible for optimising LSE Group’s London and Paris multichannel platforms and she will support Maslow’s growth ambitions by enhancing system automation.

Gayleen Huggins

Has been appointed as Maslow’s marketing manager, overseeing the company’s external communications, marketing and advertising activity.  Gayleen previously worked with MYJAR, an innovative fintech lending firm and for various property start-up brands founded by The Richmond Group.

Today’s appointments underline the long-term potential seen in the alternative lending sector.  The experience that these new colleagues bring to Maslow is significant and will help accelerate new originations, improve service and add operational capacity to handle the growth in lending activities.

Maslow Capital has to date enabled developers to realise projects with a collective GDV in excess of £1.2 billion, covering more than 2,300 new properties spanning 2.3 million sq. ft of new accommodation throughout England and Wales.  Maslow has partnered with TPG Sixth Street Partners, part of TPG, global investment business with $73 billion of assets under management.

Contact details for the team can be found on the team page.